Eisenhower Matrix - Part 1

If I was feeling overwhelmed with all of my tasks and responsibilities, emails and meetings, etc I would start to organize myself with the Eisenhower Matrix. 

You put everything that you do in one of these four quadrants based on how important and urgent they are. Then once they’re in those four areas, I would begin to put a system in place to sort out what I need to take care of right away, what needs to be scheduled, delegated to others, and even the things that need to be deleted.

Items that are urgent and important need to be top priority. These are the things that make the most impact and need to be my primary focus. This is the hardest to prioritize because everything will be fighting to take you away from it. Not just meetings or other tasks, but even distractions like checking your email often, social media, or phone calls and texts. This is your hardest and most important work that you need to do first.

Things that are important but not urgent need to be put on my regular weekly schedule. If you don’t address those things regularly, then they will become urgent eventually.

Things that are not important and not urgent need to be removed. Don’t allow your phone notifications to constantly distract you. If you’re getting a bunch of emails, unsubscribe from everything that you can.

Things that are urgent but not important need to be delegated if possible. These things need to be on your radar and need to be done but not necessarily by you. 

I honestly don’t know how I functioned before building a team around me. I hired a virtual assistant this year who is skilled and attentive to the work that I’m doing. There just isn’t enough time in the day to do everything. We started MinistryWingman to help pastors and ministry leaders focus on the most important things, which means having a skilled assistant take on the tasks that they don’t necessarily have to do themselves. Every time you focus on urgent things that aren’t that important, you are robbing yourself of doing your most important work. Setup a call with us to get paired with an assistant that has the skills and ministry experience to be a huge asset to you. You’ll find yourself doing way more important work when you know that these less important things are taken care of by someone else.

Your time is too valuable for you to be spending too much time on the things that aren’t important. Delegate to a volunteer at your church, even. There are people in your church that would love an opportunity to serve in various capacities, so it’s a win-win. We can spend so much time doing simple tasks to prepare for a church service or event. Instead, you could wisely leverage your time better by equipping someone to assist you.

Going weeks without making a significant impact on your most important work are over. Reduce your stress by mapping out everything that you do and putting a plan in place. You’ll be glad that you did.